Day 60, July 19th, Wibaux, MT to Circle, MT. It was another early day. I was up at 5am, still on Central Time, and
ready to go. I was glad I left at 6:10am
headed for Glendive, MT. I stayed on
Interstate 94 instead of using the old U.S. 10 and it was mostly downhill to
the Yellowstone River Valley. The
temperature was in the 60s to start but it got hot quickly. The scenery was a mix of prairie and badlands and very interesting. As I neared Glendive, there was my old friend
the BNSF and several trains. I rode
right beside a load of grain cars heading west.
Glendive is the Montana Division headquarters for the BNSF. I wasn’t hungry so I bought some food and
water, had a bagel and peanut butter, and kept going. As I headed west on Route 200S, the wind
picked up adding to the heat. It was
fairly flat and I made okay time. I met
a series of riders from an Adventure Cycling tour, Northern Tier Supported. They had light bags and were only going to
Glendive. As I was talking with the ACA
riders, a rider came up from the east. Kyle
Gehring is from New York City and riding to Seattle. We rode together to the next break point at
Lindsay, MT. Kyle has a metallurgy
degree from Rutgers but lost his job recently and decided to take the
opportunity to ride America. Kyle rides
all day and camps wherever he is when the sun goes down. After lunch at Lindsay, Kyle headed off and I
kept resting. I only had 25 or so miles
to go to Circle. The rest of the ride
was a bear. The wind was in my face and there
was a 15-mile climb across a ridge at 3350 feet (highest point so far) which
was about a 700 foot climb from Lindsay.
The climb was not hard but the wind made it tough. I caught up with Kyle about halfway and we helped
each other into Circle. I planned
(AGAIN) to camp, but the campground was horrible and there was an old, but
clean motel in town. I got the last
room. The temperature topped out at 98
today and the air conditioning is welcome.
I had an early dinner with Kyle and he headed north to get more miles. Mileage for the day was 80.39.
Nice pictures! Really enjoying seeing Montana! Glad u are meeting people along the way, good for u catching up with the other rider!!! God bless!
ReplyDeleteWE really liked Montana the times that we visited. Take care and watching your progress on the map.
ReplyDeleteHey Arb, this is a daily read for me. I am so envious that you were able to do this.
ReplyDeleteI've got to do some sort of ride with you sometime before my knees freeze up..
John